It had been two minutes since Goldeen dived into the moat surrounding the arena. The crowd waited in silence. Lola grinned. Delia cursed under her breath.

Stupid fish, she thought. Just come on out and fight us already.

Weepinbell bounced around the stage, trying to stay as close to the center as possible. There was plenty of room for it, but Goldeen can also jump pretty far. All it needed was one final hit to knock out Delia's champion.

"Horn attack!" Lola screamed at the arena. Out of nowhere, the golden fist leaped out from the water, hitting the bulb pokemon on its back. Weepinbell didn't stand a chance as it fell to the floor.

"Weepinbell is unable to battle! Goldeen wins!"

She'll need a quick pokemon to combat the fast goldfish. She had to have something not only fast but very effective at catching fish... Then a lightbulb flashed over her, and she whipped out her next champion's ball. It crashed on the floor and ejected a three-headed bird onto the field, which might as well had become its track.

"Delia has unleashed her Dodrio, the fastest pokemon on her team!"

It squawked in a triumphant tone-deaf battle cry as the battle resumed.

"Horn attack!" Dodrio could see Goldeen coming a mile away.

"Drill peck that fish!" Delia cried out, and Dodrio obliged. The force of three beaks slamming into the fish sent it reeling back near the moat on the other side. It barely flopped around. To everyone's surprise, all it took to knock out Goldeen was one hit.

"Goldeen goes down," screamed the announcer, as the referee confirmed with a hand gesture.

In Goldeen's place, Lola sent out a different kind of pokemon, with white fur, a big tongue sticking out, and a sharp horn on its forehead. Lola had released her Seel, an ice type. Dodrio was in trouble.

"Dodrio, return!" She called back the pokemon, who ran back into safety and a good rest.

She fumbled around her bag to find the one she labeled "Hitty." Out popped her punching champion, ready to face the seal pokemon.

Ray nodded in agreement. Hitmonchan was a good pick to face Seel, but what would she do?

"LET THE BATTLE RESUME!"

Get in close, Delia thought. That's what it needs to do to avoid the horn and beams.

"Hitmonchan, get in close and send out a fire punch!"

Before the punching pokemon could get close, Lola commanded Seel to send a beam of ice towards it. The beam moved quickly towards Hitmonchan, but it got out of the way with only a block of ice on one of its fists.

Hitty raced towards the Seel as it readied to shoot another ice beam, but then the iced glove began to steam. It melted the ice off of its fist as it burst into flames and shot towards the seal. The crowd watched as Seel was knocked back with a devastating fire punch, cutting its health points by half.

Delia smiled. Hitmonchan grinned as its glove cooled down. One more hit, and it would be over.

"DO IT AGAIN, HITTY!"

Its glove fired up again and launched at Seel. One more punch sent it flying motionlessly to Lola's feet.

"Seel is unable to battle! Hitmonchan wins!"

Delia pumped a fist as Lola recalled her fallen champion. She took the lead, the battle was won, but the war wasn't over.

Another pokemon jumped from Lola's pokeball into the water. Delia noticed the dark orange coloring fish with white fins and big eyes. It must have been a Seaking.

"Get ready to strike with a thunder punch, Hitty!"

Hitmonchan waited in the center of the arena, nowhere close to the water's surface, gloves at the ready.

"Get ready, Hitty..."

The waters remained calm. The audience sat quietly. Lola was smiling. Something was about to happen.

"SURF, SEAKING!"

Delia's eyes widened as a wall of water shot out of the moat and barreled towards Hittmonchan. Both Delia and her champion got drenched with water as the crowd cheered.

"We know where Seaking is, Hitty! Attack with Thunderpunch!"

Hitmonchan barreled towards the Northside of the square moat with gloves sparking and landed a punch directly in Seaking's face.

"DOUBLE-EDGE," Lola commanded, but by the time Seaking could attack again, Hitmonchan was ready with the other glove. Seaking was knocked down after one more punch.

Delia smugly grinned, wondering how Lola got so far in the first place if all she did was water attacks.

The referee called the battle, and Lola retrieved her pokemon. Two more to go, and as far as she knew, the battle was in the bag. If not Hitmonchan, then Kadabra or Staryu would finish them off.

Lola took out a Shellder, which didn't put much of a fight. It got in one swift before Hitmonchan took it out with two thunderpunches. Every strike felt like she was getting back just a little bit more power. Lola had humiliated her in front of those other trainers, and now she'd face Delia's wrath in front of thousands. Even though she was drenched, she felt her body warming up.

Finally, Lola sent out one final seel, and it didn't stand a chance. Hitmonchan was too fired up, and Delia wasn't going to make it any flashier. All Seel could do was shoot out one last ice beam, which almost hit someone in the stands. After two fire punches, Seel was down for the count.

Delia didn't care about the battle. She didn't even watch as Hitmonchan knocked out Seel. All she did was stare forward towards Lola. Red saw Delia's hair fly around like she was in an anime. He saw the satisfaction in her eyes as Lola called back Seel with a whimper. She almost looked like she would scream at Lola, but she could see the restraint on her face (yeah, he was sitting that close).

She almost left with a huff after returning Hitmonchan to its pokeball, not even waiting to hear her name be called from the intercom. To her, it felt like a release to watch her opponent dwell in their misery of elimination. She just didn't care about anything else.